Guard Chief: Active and Guard Are Interchangeable

The chief of the National Guard warned against cutting his force too drastically, arguing that the Pentagon needs the Guard now more than it ever did prior to 9–11.

The Defense Department faces about $1 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade as part of 2011 deficit-reduction legislation known as the Budget Control Act. That includes almost $500 billion in reductions already planned and another $500 billion in automatic cuts that will take effect unless Congress and the White House agree on an alternative spending plan.

The tense fiscal environment has forced service chiefs to compete for shrinking defense dollars, often arguing that National Guard and Reserve forces should bear the brunt of cuts to protect the active ranks.

Army Gen. Frank Grass, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, said the active services would lose a lot of battlefield flexibility if they allowed the Guard to slip back into the poorly-trained, under-equipped force it was before the war years began.

“I get asked all the time, why does the National Guard need F16s? Why do you need F15s? Why do you need Apaches? Why do you need tanks? I say ‘we don’t need Apaches. We don’t need tanks and we don’t need fighter jets,’” Grass said during a Jan. 9 speech at the National Press Club. “What we need is whatever the Air Force and the Army need in their reserve. However the Army looks and however the Air Force looks, we have got to be interchangeable.

“We will never be identical to them we are not going to be and we are not trying to be. But we have got to be complimentary of each other so that when the Air Force needs additional capability in fighters … or the Army needs additional brigades, we’ve got to be ready to move. That means being organized trained and equipped the same.”

The Guard and Reserves have always been essential in disaster-relief operations such as Hurricane Sandy. But the Guard has become a key player in homeland defense and combat operations, particularly during the war in Iraq.

“For the homeland, we have 40 fighters and seven tankers sitting on alert right now, so if something happens over the skies of the United States there are pilots and jets; there are ground crews to put those jets up in the skies. In six minutes they are over the United State,” Grass said. “Twenty four/seven, we have been doing that as part of the North American Aerospace Defense Command.”

The Army mission takes more time to launch into action, Grass said.

“If you are talking about brigade combat teams fighting in combat, right now the standard we are using, and it is an Army standard, is 50 to 80 days; we can have a brigade combat team ready to go,” he said, adding that heavier brigades take up to 110 days to be ready.

“The further we get away from the current conflict that will get stretched out a bit, but we want to make sure we don’t lose that edge.”

Grass said he has been working with the other services to agree on how deep cuts should be.

“We know we can take some reductions and maintain a quality force,” he said, adding that too many cuts to the active force would also be damaging to the Guard’s operation.

“As the active component loses money, we won’t be able to modernize; we won’t be able send pilots to the training they need; we won’t be able to get people into basic training and advanced schools,” Grass said. “We could win the battle and lose the opportunity to train our folks because most of the training infrastructure belongs to the Army and Air Force.”

Grass, however, isn’t letting the active Army paint the Guard as a lesser force.

In a recent speech, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said that the Guard members were not interchangeable with active Army soldiers because they only train 39 days a year.

“Once you become a leader… you may get paid for 39 day a year, but I’ll tell you those guard men and women are in the armory once a week the leaders are their twice a week,” Grass said. Guard members often attend active schools that take several months to complete, he said.

“The idea of training 39 days a year doesn’t exist anymore,” Grass said.

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“Once you become a leader… you may get paid for 39 day a year, but I’ll tell you those guard men and women are in the armory once a week the leaders are their twice a week,”

Does this mean only the leaders are interchangeable with the active duty military?

I have worked with a few guard and reserve units overseas. Not one I have ever been in contact with could come close to being as trained, experienced, proficient, or just plain old good at there job as an active duty unit. It is one to talk and write about being good at something and another to actually practice it.

You have got to be kidding me, how many guard ad reserve units and member’s served in Iraq and Afghanistan? How many have died right beside the active counter parts including a great friend of mine. Wannabes seriously, you disrespect them all!

Red2429 & Obatt have no clue on what a force multiplier the Guard and Reserve bring to the fight. If you look at the ranks a vast majority of former active duty have come over bringing their experiences. The military cutbacks will eventually cripple our active military and our Citizen Soldiers will be there as always to fill in the gap.

Crap talk…the Guard has always been there and since before our country was a country. Grow up oblatt2. Have you even served? Next time you are stranded by a flood, trapped by a blizzard, etc. who would you call? All services active, reserve, and guard are pieces of the whole.
MMCS(SW)(SS) USN Retired 23 years active duty but proud of my NC National Guard units.

I find the comments from this blog not having the understanding of what senior strategic leadership roles must face under limited resources issues. No one likes the positions the Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard are currently facing and will experience.All three continue to prove themselves​.At this time senior strategic leadership must work to a goal that demonstrates balance and fairness to all.Not all will agree to what is decided,but it will be the continuing task of our military leadership to follow through, airmen,marines sailors and soldiers.alike.Change tends to bring the best and the worst conditions,but the ability to change, to understand it and its goal keeps our military reshaping itself, in a continuous changing world.

Funny how Gen Odierno forgets how much the Guard and Reserve have contributed to his sucess in OIF and OEF. Sucess isn’t measured by what you accomplish, but what the men and women beneath you accomplish.

Good to know where Odierno stands with respect to the citizen soldiers that have also sacrificed so much for our country. Perhaps he would feel more secure and successful if we all stayed home with our families and careers that are sometimes sacrificed to enforce our national policies (not necessarily security). Then the active duty could be deployed even more. Get their equipment trashed, and the wolves that encircle our way of life could move in for the kill.…

In a Nov 19, op-ed to Defense News entitled: “Return U.S. Miluitary to Militia Model,” I said:

To preserve our country from bankruptcy and further decline, it’s time to cut our military back to the militia model force structure the founding fathers envisioned.

Start with basics. We have 1.3 million men and women in the active forces, with another 860,000 in the National Guard and reserves. Two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq resulted in about 200,000 being deployed to the battle area. Including dwell time, we’d need three times that deployed force, or 600,000, to maintain a wartime operating tempo, with maybe 300,000 in all other supporting roles.

One third of that force should be National Guard and reserves, activated for three months a year to stay fully integrated and at the call, paying their employers for a temporary backfill. And definitely pay our military what they deserve. Cha-ching! $43 billion a year saved.

* * * * *
So, we should change the training regimen to 3 months each year so they ARE fully integrated with the Active forces.

My “second rate wannabe” unit replaced an active duty unit during Operation Anaconda because they couldn’t perform their mission. Their lack of experience and dedication left a hole that was filled with a bunch of older more experienced vets (mostly) that have been there before, knew war, and stepped up voluntarily because of their commitment to their country (and we kinda enjoyed it). Call us ate up, but the pride factor in the Guard and Reserve lends itself to expertise that some service people that live from one enlistment to another would never see.

I have been in the Guard for 31 years and not once have I seen an active duty person with more knowledge of systems, operations and tactics than most of the old farts in my unit. Been there, done that.
I and most of my peers haven’t done a 39 day year since we were E-3’s.

You must not have served. Being part of the only NG Stryker BDE, we performed better and more efficient than our AD counterparts. Hell, when it was time for us to leave, the GEN from 1st Cav was begging us to stay. NG is always there to fix things that AD f**ks up. Just saying is all.….

I’ve known GEN Grass for many years and he knows exactly what he is talking about. The guard has always had to do more with less. I was a Guard member before going Active and I was in the Armory 8–10 days a month. The Guard members go to the same schools as the Active duty personnel and get the same training. For instance the Air Assualt school at Camp Gruber Oklahoma is just as good as the one at Ft Campbell Kentucky. My MP unit had 19 personnel awarded purple hearts in OIF and worked side by side with their active duty counterparts. They are just as good.

“Real Active-Duty Chief– Success or failure of a mission is always reflective of the decisions made by unit leaders. Decisions made in tactics, strategy and especially logistics by the leadership (commanders) are what drives a unit’s performance. Even a mission failure could/should be considered a success if the unit commander makes good, responsible decisions that can be flowed down for future training and education. The point is that is was active duty commanders that decided to employ substandard equipment, maintained and operated by inadequately trained personal, that created the environment that my guard unit had to correct and therefore make our part of the operation a success.

It’s a decent suggestion, but you forget to factor in:
how many civilian employers out there are willing to sacrifice their employees for those 3 months every year to allow them to serve in the Guard and Reserve?
It is a burden on those businesses strained of a trained labor force to lose employees for that length of time.
Having to go a week or longer every month without a given employee being there to do their civilian job strains the civilian sector to the point that employers may just find it too much an inconvenience to hire reservists.
Can that be made illegal? It already is.
But it’s still too often the burden upon the reservist to prove the employer discriminated against them as such, and an employer can just as easily say there were other reasons said person wasn’t the most suitable candidate for the job.

Perhaps if our crotchety old politicians, too well-fed by the MIC, would just stop being so damn eager to send our military all over to fight everyone else’s wars for them…?

My proposal would include a government-paid backfill for that 3 month period. And considering we have such a high unemployment rate–really about 20%, not the 7% the Department of Labor likes to publish–(I include those NOT looking for work), having a pool of qualified but part time people helps them too.

oblatt2: did u 4 get 2 take ur meds 2 day? The USMC is anything BUT another Army of 2nd rate wannabes, u ask those who fought them in Fallujah (sp?) about; their fightin’ spirit, courage, & Esprit de Corps!

an excellent post TS53. This inevitable & painful task is just like the late ’70’s. The 1st step which would reduce inter-service rivalries, competition 4 limited funds,research,etc. would be for SECSTATE Kerry & POTUS Obama to put forth to the American people; a coherent, affordable, sane & attainable FOREIGN POLICY!!!!!!!!!!! Stop pouring more slop into the trough that the MIC feeds from. This while our industrial base shrinks, we sink deeper into debt, structural & youth unemployment worsens & we don’t admit the monetary policy of the last 6 years isn’t working. (except for the 1%‘ers). This while threats to our great nation grow & we are no longer FEARED by our adversaries!

Which active duty was replaced because they couldn’t perform their mission? Who replaced them? It’s my understanding any units rotated out had already been in country months and did their time. You have to be careful to not believe your own press.

The Guard is NOT interchangeable with the active component when it comes to the Army. The overwhelming number of Guard combat arms units are assigned repetive or fixed site security tasks. They are not capable of being trained in the full spectrum of missions active component units are. Convoy security and fixed site security IS important but Guard units aren’t expected or trained to do cordon and search, security patrols, raids and air assaults so they do convoy security and FOB security primarily.

Because the Active Army assigns missions and resources to train. When only given resources to train to platoon-level proficiency, how can you denigrate the Guard that only costs 1/3 of the Active Component? As a taxpayer, I cannot afford to keep a large active army, rather a well-trained and regulated militia that the founding fathers envisioned when they drafted the Constitution.

There’s a lot of unnecessary Guard and Reserve butthurt going on here.

The Guard and Reserve are important We cannot go to war without them and the military created that model specifically to avoid what happened in Vietnam. Guard units except in for some rare and small units weren’t sent to isolate America from the impact of the war. The Guard/Reserve deserve all the credit for the last decade of service but there are many differences to what the Guard/Reserve have brought to the fight vs. the active component. It’s NOT the same.

Active units typically deploy two to three times more often than Guard/Reserve units. Counting deployments is misleading when three of the services do anywhere from 3–7 month deployments and the Army routinely does 12 mos or even 15, (Just in the last year the Army has gone to 9 mo tours) Most Guard/Reserve units have served a year or two deployed in theatre. Many if not most active units have 4 or even 6 yrs deployed over the last decade. It’s NOT the same.

Duty performance is also different in many cases. Where combat support and service support Guard/Reserve units do the exact same mission as active units in theatre (from the FOB) the combat units do not. The overwhelming number of Guard combat arms units are assigned repetitive or fixed site security tasks. Through no individual fault of their own, they are not capable of being trained in the full spectrum of missions active component units are in the 39 days units train in a year or the 2–3 extra months given them before deployment.. Convoy security and fixed site security IS important but Guard units generally aren’t expected or trained to do cordon and search, security patrols, raids and air assaults so they do convoy security and FOB security primarily. They are NOT the same.

Based on my two years living every day with an Enhanced Separate Infantry Brigade, MOST Guard/Reserve unit leaders DO NOT devote more than the 39 days Odierno spoke of. Most unit leaders are fire team, squad and section leaders. Maybe platoon sergeants and above but I didn’t see leaders routinely devote more time than 39 days except for 1SGT and above leaders. This sacrifice while commendable is largely irrelevant to the argument the Guard/Reserve are equal to active units because leaders could be present 24/7/365 and not make a difference as to the competency of THE UNIT. The whole unit has to be there to train otherwise we could just keep squad leaders on active duty all year and have fully trained squads…

So Guardsmen/Reservists who equate their unit’s capabilities with the active component are not being honest with themselves or the American public. The overwhelming majority of Guard units are not prepared for immediate deployment overseas while most active component units are. Active component units typically deploy longer and 2–3 times more often than Guard/Reserve peers. Finally the overwhelming majority of combat units (except for the Air Guard) are NOT doing the same missions as their active peers.

The Guard/Reserve has done yeoman’s work over the last decade. We can not go to war for any period without them and that’s a good thing but we would be fooling ourselves and placing America at risk by saying Guard and active units are interchangeable. The best combat arms Guard unit cannot be thrown into battle straight from the armory like an active component unit can from its base. Everyone seems to forget the last time we used Guard units JUST LIKE active units was WWII and it took about two years of full time active training to get them to that level.

I walked away with a huge amount of respect for my Guard/Reserve peers. In some ways they are greater patriots than the active component. Everyone is rightfully proud of their contribution but let’s stop the braggadocio or hurt feelings about telling the truth. If one wants to be considered a professional being honest is part of the deal.

I think part of the issue is that you must factor in that a Guard units one-year activation includes 100 days that they are not BOG. Also, the units dwell/ BOG ratio is 4 or 5 to one, compared to the 1–1 that the active duty was doing, and the full year deployed. Lots of Guardsmen that were deployed more frequently than that, but not the units themselves.

Guard units are afforded resources to train at higher than platoon. I spent two years living with a guard unit. They trained company and BN tasks but the reality is you just can get so much training value out of 39 days.

We do not send platoons to war alone. They require the assets and direction that comes from companies, battalions, brigades etc. Guard units cost 1/3 of active units because they generally take longer to prepare to deploy.

The constitution allows for a standing Army which we have had since before the constitution was written. You may not want to pay for it but we can’t wait to raise one for contingencies either. It took two years to get the Guard up to speed for WWII and that was by stealing from the active component.

We still need IRR ARMY cbt arms bolster for rapid mobilizations; Have Inf, Armor, Arty troops train mandatorily annually two to three weeks, employer paid or not, former AD or Guard, to avoid the archaic time loss criticalities of ‘draft’.…Euros and Russkies been at this a long, long time!

So.……the ARC is a force multiplier today because “a vast majority of former active duty have come over bringing their experiences”, what happens when the AD gets gutted while the ARC grows in proportion?

Where does the experience come from then? Without a continuous flow of experience from the AD to the ARC, all of that advantage goes away.….

Great post TS53. The only thing I would add is I think the goal of senior leaders in uniform is to develop a balanced force that can execute the national strategy, regardless of fairness to the services or the components.

Good post majr0d. Over the foreseeable short-term, all the services are going to take budget hits, and that translates into cuts. Army cuts have been well documented, and now the AF needs to cut 25K folks by 1 Oct. It is imperative that we NOT lose the experience 12 years of war has instilled in that huge slice of human capital. Gen Grass’ comments indicate that he understands you can’t completely slash the AD and keep the Guard/Reserve viable because the AD does the testing, procuring, training, etc. etc. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the Guard lobby in DC gets it, and I’m 100% positive the 50+ mini-CINCs (Governors) around the country don’t get it. The AF took an ass-kickin from the ANG lobby last year…we’ll see if the Army can avoid the same this year.…

I won’t say the Guard/Reserve isn’t competent. They are competent on the things they train on. I don’t think regular units are as well trained/prepared to do disaster relief. The problem is Guard/Reserve units can’t train on all the tasks active units can in a year let alone five. The gap becomes cumulative over time. An even bigger gap is Guard/Reserve units rarely train at Battalion and above. The commanders and staff can’t learn all they need to learn in a couple of months of predeployment training to adequately command, control and support subordinate units. E.G. if you never do Air Assaults it’s near impossible to coordinate and put together an air mission brief let alone plan that will cover all contingencies like the SEAD plan, downed aircraft procedures,primary/alternate/false LZ’s.

Air Guard units appear to have very competent pilots. They have obviously done great jobs at disaster relief, national air defense and overseas conducting refueling ops, strategic airlift as well as close air support.

I think the outcome would have been drastically different due to a fulfillment of a political campaign objective to withdrawal all US Forces by 2012, instead of a measured draw down, with properly trained & equipped Iraqi forces to relieve in place coalition forces. We just cut & ran, leaving the country to fracture into Sunni, Shia & Kurd. Right adjacent to a salivating Iranian military already aligned through aL-Sadr (why doesn’t he get his teeth fixed?)w/the Iraqi Shia to exploit the power vacuum the US left, short of the Kurds in the north & a fragile Iraqi Sunni minority ill prepared for the current onslaught of “Foreign Fighters” infiltrating from the east. The Iraqi PM aL-Maliki caved early in the game, allowing Iranian over flights carrying military impedimenta to Syria for what in exchange? He know threatens “Kurdistans” new pipeline to Turkey a clear threat to Iranian dominance of the region, now that the PKK has made kissy face with Turkeys PM Erdogan, who looks shakier by the day. We all know what happens in Turkey when the military grows impatient or dis-satisfied with its civilian gov’t, if a coup happens…then with a spill over from Syria…or “false flag attack’, well that makes 4 an excellent geo-political class at Carlisle Barracks!

This is not what General Grass said. I listened to him on CSPAN, and he made a very passioned and persuasive argument for his component, not just doing traditional and conventional operations missions, but the full spectrum of what the Guard does here and abroad. Wake up and smell the coffee, dude. We really need these guys to step up their game, especially if the Regular Army sloughs off heavy force structure and missions on to the reserve components. Can the Guard do COIN. Yes they did, so yes they do. One of my closest friends started out a as a city policeman and a reserve Navy Seal…that guy is still on active duty, duking it out with the terrorists each and every day. Another comrade went into the DC Guard and from thence to Afghanistan, where he did yeoman service as the S-5 of a Guard brigade there. Bottom line: the men and women in our reserve components need to be trained and ready, and we need to incentivize them to be trained and ready, lowing as many barriers as we can.

Part of the reason people do not or cannot do “overtime” in TPU is that (1), they have to drive hundreds of miles to monthly drill in the first place, just to keep their slots and (2) the full timers do not know or care enough how to work with part timers between drills. Admittedly, my TPU service was before the Internet, video conferencing and whatnot. But my point is that everyone sandbags on their homework in between drills, and no one demands anything more, you get the kind of lackadaisical performance that drives off the good people who want to soldier. The system itself tends to be suboptimal, putting square pegs in round holes, but the Regular Army does that, too.

I would also point out that the problem with the reserve components’ leadership is just as much a matter of unlearning as well as learning. Most RC officers are set in the culture of the Army that existed when they were on active duty or were first commissioned. Many of them get set in their ways, and adaptation can be an issue. During Desert Storm, my detachment commander, an infantry officer who won the Silver Star in Vietnam actually threatened to activate people who didn’t show up to drill. As if that Vietnam practice was going to happen…the culture shock of being transported back to the army of early 70s was enough to demotivate my time in TPU, although I wouldn’t say that was the only consideration in hanging up my spurs for good.

The OVERWHELMING majority of the Guard did not do COIN. Almost all Guard combat arms units were assigned repetitive or fixed site security tasks. Through no individual fault of their own, they are not capable of being trained in the full spectrum of missions active component units are to support COIN (or conventional ops) in the 39 days units train in a year or the 2–3 extra months given them before deployment.. Convoy security and fixed site security IS important but Guard units generally aren’t expected or trained to do cordon and search, security patrols, raids and air assaults so they do convoy security and FOB security primarily. They are NOT the same.

There is NO PLAN to increase the heavy BCTs in the Guard. They have their hands full. We haven’t deployed a Guard armor unit AS and armor units since WWII.

You really shouldn’t tell people to wake up and smell the coffee when you are smoking the best stuff out there…

tell me how you: “Based on my two years living every day with an Enhanced Separate Infantry Brigade, MOST Guard/Reserve unit leaders DO NOT devote more than the 39 days Odierno spoke of. Most unit leaders are fire team, squad and section leaders. Maybe platoon sergeants and above but I didn’t see leaders routinely devote more time than 39 days except for 1SGT and above leaders” This is a bizarre statement you lived w/a RC unit for 2 years & then you reference “leaders routinely devote more time than 39 days”??? what kind of assignment was that, tell me will, I need to figure this one out, because your either AD or RC you talk as if you were both at the same time?????? The fascist censors wouldn’t print my 1st post!

Excuse me, but the Reimer Report recommended exactly what I said — transfer HBCT force structure to the reserves. Barno advocated the same thing at CNAS…so what happens when Odierno losses his ploy to protect the active force against even more cuts ? I’ll tell you what happens — you lose the heavy units out of the force structure altogether, and you got nothin’. It is really the Army’s fault this happened, but when the Georgia and Mississippi roundout brigades got called up during Desert Shield, neither got out of CONUS — at least they could have deployed them to Germany to take over an active brigade’s mission in USAREUR while they trained up. So much for the roundout concept. It didn’t work.

And you are just wrong about NG brigades not doing COIN. When the South Carolina brigade got called up in 2006–2007, it got its very own sector in Afghanistan. Yeah, Northeast Afghanistan was supposed to be relatively “quiet”. but that is not the story my colleagues came home with. The same problems with drugs, corruption and warlord violence were present in the non-Pashtun areas.

“When Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in August of 1990, he unwittingly touched off a significant dispute between the active Army and the Army National Guard. Three of the Army National Guard’s combat brigades — designed to go to war with active Army combat divisions — were mobilized and
trained, but never deployed to the Gulf War. In the aftermath of this public relations debacle, the Congress drafted legislation which mandated that the Army increase its support of the Reserve Components by assigning 5,000 active Army advisors to positions in direct support. In response, the Army created several training organizations, one of which was the Resident Training Detachment.” LTC Kieth Vore School of Advanced Military Studies Monograph

Think tanks say crazy stuff all the time. CNASA also ran a position paper saying the carrier was obsolete. The sky isn’t falling. The squealing by Ft. Hood congressional reps will be your first clue that something’s afoot.

Not the same as what’s happening in the south of Afghanistan and the combat missions you read about in books like “Outpost”, “War” and “Outlaw Platoon”. Reserve SEALs and the 20th SFG are a miniscule portion of the Guard/Reserve and I did say “overwhelming number”, not “all”.

As long as full timers are committed to an 8 to 5, Monday through Friday work schedule, nothing particularly good can happen. Email is fine, but more thorough coordinate requires talking to people, and as a part time reservist, you have a civilian job that pays your bills and that takes precedence during normal working hours. The only other experience I have had like this is working on a church committee where the people didn’t consider your commute schedule and did everything at their convenience. Bleh.

That’s a great copy & paste willy, your plagiarism skills are gettin’ better & better try answering’ in your own words next time.…they were called round out/round up bde’s, I was well aware of them. Was at FLW as a AI helping with EOAC instruction after returning from DS/DS as a CPT. I meet many of their junior officers, some from Kansas & I think Texas, vvere PO’d people due to the treatment they received from DA. That DOA program That LTC Vore (not you) reference was viewed by NGB as an attempt to “dump” 5K+ of its ‘Below center of mass rated” officers in the guard & usurp the respective state Army Guard right to fill the tile 32 “Full-Time” positions from within. DA had fancy names like ‘Quick Silver & Bold Shift. I was a GS-11 “Technician” at the time.…sorry charlie The closest those “Teams” got to NY, CT, RI etc were the ’”Readiness groups” . We had RG Devens which was a collection of IMA’s, profiles & weight control program misfits. We called them the 10 to 2 crowd, Maybe it was different else where , but those Active Component officers that got dumped on us, well lets say they weren’t ranger material. Its sounds like that 2 yr tour was in Title 32 status. Maybe your last? Try & be more professional & drop the personal attacks, You never did show up at graduation at the point, cuz this “consider the source Colonel” REALLY wanted to met you

In the decade of conflict that followed September 11, 2001, 63 percent of the National Guardsmen deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have deployed once, while 37 percent have deployed multiple times, according to National Guard Bureau data. The reserve component made up to 40 percent of the total fighting force in Iraq and Afghanistan at one point in the last 10 years, said Capt. Marshall Hanson of the Reserve Officers Association.
A little more than 9,000 reservists were wounded in action in the last decade, according to the National Guard Bureau. Almost 700 National Guard troops died in conflict in the last 10 years, including five who died in the attacks on 9/11, according to the National Guard Bureau PAO. just consider the source.….….IMHO the RC’s with their needed 30 day train up can do any mission short of special opns, whom I cannot speak for, although I was task with supporting their opns in a country I will not name for opsec purposes. . With their added “Homeland” mission their our nations most valuable ‘Armed Service” resource come hell or high water! (no disrespect meant to the victims of hurricane Katrina)

And whom would you suggest should back up state militia/ploce forces in times of crisis: dog walkers and store owners that have never seen either end of a weapond. Even an as you call it “second rate wannabe” can follow orders and add backbone to the people that keep you safe in your home. Mabye you can trust the perpetrators in this country to stand down; but you will not have learned any lessons from history. I’d trust a homeless, alchoholic gardsman on the shortest day in this world before I’d trust anyone spewing a statement such as the one I just read.

What a stupid statement for anyone connected with the Guard Service! A more accurate statement may ha e been.…“Maybe” the SHOULD be interchangeable???? In my 22 years I have not seen any of that after witnessing Guards after they were activated.… NO WAY.….

None of what you say means they were/are interchangeable CBGus. Oh I have no doubt those that died right next to an active service person has, and will continue to happen.… I must admit death is the same for anyone in a particular situation…That’s a lousy comparison to make here.…. These comments are NOT disrespecting any Guard’ personnel, just commenting on their qualified training results.…

My NG unit has 46 days of drill this year. I guess that does not help the argument that much. I do agree we need more training time. I think they should push that number up to about 80 to 100 days somehow depending on what year of the AFROGEN cycle they are on. So year 1 and 2 be the 40 days or so. Year 3 be 60 to 80 then year 4 be 80 to 100. Then Year 5 ready to roll. That change maybe hard to do to because of the effect on jobs and school that NG troops have.

I remember a question that was ask one time. That question was “What AirForce normally beats the United States AirForce in war game dog fights?” The answer is the Air national Guard AirForce. They did because they had more air time counting their active duty time and they did it with older planes. While I was in the reserves and National Guard there was a core of us that were combat experienced. I was a instructor for years and ended up with 30 total years of AD, Reserve and NG. We were also on call and ready to ship out in 24 hours.

Dude..you are clueless!
For the last 10 years Guard and Reserve units haave done 12–15 month deployments and turned around 15 months later only to do it again..and again!
Active Duty units usually do about 6 or 8 months and are replaced. There was no equity in deployments but every guard and reserve unit I worked with..yes I was over there from 2003–2004 in the first rotation..was not only a total professional but extremely proficient at his or her job.
WE may not train every day but we make the best of the time we do..train as you fight!
SFC Retired!

When I was in the Navy back in ’75-’79, the Navy reserve people we worked with were as efficient and as dedicated to getting the job done as we full timers. They did the job, put up with the “ah, they’re only reservests, what do you expect?” B.S., and Went home at the end of their week end or summer requirment.
These kids and older folk were extremely efficient at their jobs. Quite frankly, they were better at their jobs than the drug saturated alchohoics we none draft dodgers had to work with.

I just don’t like full timers degrading NG & Reservests when my experience shows them (NG& Reservests) to be just as dedicated and willing to learn and AT LEAST as efficient as us fulltimers were, if not more.
We need them!

I knowof MANY Guard unit members who are very dedicated and capable! They work hard, they do a LOTof tasks continuously in this country look those who have pretty thick blinders on LOOK how many severe blizzrds, hurricanes and all kinds of disaasters have they responded to without hesitation for hours and days on end? I know those who have unburied people from snow drifts, rescues those stuck on roofs, dove into surging dirty cold water without any hesitation to save someone..Come on people THESE are your dedicated service people!

Hhmmm, I served in the army guard for 20 years as a helicopter crew chief. I spent 12 months in Iraq in a Blackhawk medevac unit flying all times of the day and night. The 3rd cav replaced the 1st I.D. at the FOB we were at about a month in. They were so far behind the 8 ball it was pitiful. Could not talk on the radios, give a proper 9 line medevac call, no military bearing.,etc.
When we left Iraq, the 101st airborne rolled in to replace us. You want to talk about ate up. Every one of their blackhawks was red Xed broke. Crewchiefs would roll out of bed by 9;00 AM to try and fix them. Walked around like a bunch of zombies.
Before you beat up on the guard, know what you are talking about.
If you want to respond, my e mail is scottullerick @msn.com.
Sincerely, Scott Ullerick

Everyone should know that Gen. Ordenero is a yes man for our current president & it is a very sad state of affairs that he is so uninformed. Does’t he ever get out of the office to see what the real world is like.

Wow really… The 28 ID PA National Guard units that deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan handled their missions just as well if not better that the active component. Plus, they bring more to the fight. not only are we highly skilled in our MOS’s but we also bring our civilian Job skills to the fight as well.

What about States that have State Militia/State Guard units in states such as Maryland, New York, California, Alaska and Texas. What do we do for them, when their National Guard units gets activated and deployed. Do we raise their training standards up to National Guard and give them rear echelon security, engineering, Comms, Medical and SAR duties. I was thinking raising them up to what is similar to Scandinavian countries such as Swedish and Danish Home guard.

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